FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEANDERSON UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATIONMonday, June 30, 2014

TROJANS RETAIN POSSESSION OF BEVILLE CUP

AU Posts Largest Margin of Victory in History of the Competition

ANDERSON, S.C. – For the second consecutive year and sixth time in the last eight, Anderson University has claimed possession of the coveted Beville Cup in the passionate rivalry between Anderson and Erskine, by a 12-3.5 point margin.

The prestigious Beville Cup, originally known as the Anderson/Erskine Cup, is a competition between Erskine and Anderson’s athletics programs that was established in the fall of 2003 and is sponsored by ARAMARK in order to promote and enhance the rivalry between the Trojans and Flying Fleet, whose campuses are separated only by 20 miles.

The winner of the Beville Cup each year has the award presented each spring to its student-athletes and coaches by the losing athletics director, traditionally at their postseason banquet/awards night.

The Trojans actually clinched the point back in mid-November, when the AU women’s basketball team cruised to a 78-63 win over the Flying Fleet, while the men’s basketball squad edged EC, 60-55, in Due West, but the final point was only recently determined.

This year’s margin of victory for the Trojans was the largest in the competition’s 11-year history, surpassing AU’s back-to-back eight-point triumphs in 2007 and 2008. For the second consecutive year, Anderson led wire-to-wire in the competition en route to claiming its second straight title.

Anderson blanked the Flying Fleet through the fall and winter seasons of 2013-14, as the Trojans raced out to an insurmountable 8.5-0 lead following the hoops’ victories. AU got off on the right foot by sweeping the Fleet in soccer by a combined 11-2 score in Due West, while the volleyball team collected a point by shutting out EC, 3-0. After the Trojan men’s and women’s cross country teams each earned points with higher finishes at the NCAA Regionals, the basketball teams combined to collect two additional points prior to Thanksgiving.

The Flying Fleet garnered its first half-point by earning a split of a baseball doubleheader, while adding a pair of points in men’s and women’s golf. AU’s softball team slowed Erskine’s momentum with a sweep, while the Flying Fleet picked up the remainder of their points by splitting in men’s and women’s tennis.

AU never trailed during the 2012-13 campaign either, garnering a two-point lead during the fall seasons on the strength of wins by the women’s soccer squad and higher finishes at both the men’s and women’s cross country regionals.

The Flying Fleet crept within 5.25-4.25 following the winter campaigns, but Anderson closed the spring with strong outings and claimed four of the final six points on the strength of a sweep by the baseball team, and with the women’s golf squad also posting a higher finish at Tusculum’s Agnes McAmis Memorial Tournament.

The Trojan softball and men’s tennis teams secured the return of the Cup to the Abney Athletic Center with dramatic wins on the final day of their respective regular seasons, with the tennis squad recording a 6-3 win and the softball team decisively sweeping the Fleet, 6-3 and 10-0, at Smethers Field.

The 2011-12 year saw the Trojans gain an early 6.5 to 2.5 lead by posting higher finishes at the regional men’s and women’s cross country meets and sweeping all three basketball matchups. AU also took wins in both women’s soccer and volleyball to build the advantage. Erskine rallied in late February and March to climb within 1 ½ points, then overtook the Trojans with strong outings in April.

Anderson also raced out to a commanding 7.5-2.5 point lead during the 2010-11 campaign on the strength of sweeps by the men’s and women’s soccer squads and the men’s and women’s basketball teams, while volleyball split their home and away matches. A late surge by Erskine gave the Flying Fleet a brief one-point edge going into the final week of competition, but it was too little, too late, as the Trojan golf teams swept the Fleet to provide the winning margin.

Anderson University won the inaugural Cup in 2004 by a comfortable margin before Erskine captured the Cup back-to-back years in 2005 and 2006. The Cup returned to Anderson in 2007 and 2008, but Erskine returned it to Due West in 2009 with a narrow 16.5-15.5 win. The 2009-10 competition also went down to the wire, with Anderson claiming a 20-18 victory after the AU women’s golf team posted a fourth-place finish at the Conference Carolinas’ Championship, two spots ahead of Erskine to provide the winning margin.

The Anderson-Erskine Cup was changed to the ‘Beville Cup” in the spring of 2007 in honor of Bobby and Susie Beville. Susie Beville was a graduate of Anderson College and Erskine College, where she played softball. Susie Beville passed away in the summer of 2004. Her husband Bobby played baseball both at AU and Erskine and went on to serve as baseball coach at Anderson before becoming the athletics director for 10 years. He left AU in 2007 to work for the Anderson City Parks and Recreation Department.